


Of rats, dogs, and cinnamon stars

by Fleur_de_Violette



Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Domestic Fluff, For @rest-in-bees, Gen, M/M, No.6 secret santa 2018, Winter, post reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:59:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14732135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleur_de_Violette/pseuds/Fleur_de_Violette
Summary: The winter has fell on New-six, and when the cold settle down on the reborning city, there is always warmness on a small bakery of lost town.





	Of rats, dogs, and cinnamon stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ephemerality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephemerality/gifts).



> This was a present for ephemerality (rest-in-bees) on No.6 secret santa 2018, so it might be a little out of context to post it in May but anyway. I hope you will like it even if it’s not really the right season to post charismas fic.

_5:30_

*riing* *riing*

A high-pitched, annoying noise.

*Riing* *riing* 

“Shion…”

A low, half asleep complaint.

*Riing* *Riing* 

“uum…”

An equally low, even more asleep moan.

*Riiing* *riing* 

“Shion, shut that damn thing off !”

A snap. 

*Riiing* *BANG*

Shion opened his eyes, only to see his room in the dim artificial light of Lost-Town that had made its way through the window. The alarm clock was thankfully still in one piece, a beautiful hand still on it. The ecologist and now active member of the restructuration committee of New-06 putted a hand behind him, blindly searching for a contact whit the man he shared his bed with. He wasn’t disappointed when long fingers tangled with his, the arm that has came above him to shut down the alarm finding a place on his torso, a hot breath tickling his neck. The white-haired boy looked once again at the alarm. He still had time. Surely the town could do with him spending five more minutes under Nezumi’s arms. Feeling like he was in heaven, he closed his eyes. 

_6:12_

Sighing, Shion opened once again his eyes. Slowly awaking, he looked at the red numbers on the alarm clock. 

_Holly Shit !_

The white-haired boy bolted out of the bed. Well, tried. The strong arm that had lowered to rest on his waist kept him firmly in place. 

“Nezumi,” pleaded the teenager, squirming under the arms of his mate, “let me go, I’m gonna be late”. 

“Why ?” Came the short, still asleep response, “They sure don’t need you this early. Your first meeting isn’t until 9 anyway”

“I…” the young man untangled himself from the arms on him, vaguely wandering why Nezumi always knew his whole planning “want to…” he kicked the cover aside, leaving a fair part to the other boy, “finish a report this morning.” He finally succeeded in getting out of the bed. “And anyway, I’m not arguing with you on this again.” Shion hurried himself in the bathroom, intending to take a quick shower and get dressed. 

_6:22_

As the white-haired boy entered the kitchen, he was assaulted by the smell of freshly backed bread. His mother and Nezumi where already working by the ovens. How the former block-east resident has managed to get from lump on the bed to ready and alert in less than five minutes, Shion would never know. He took his coat and bag, ready to leave to his office when he heard his lovers’ voice.

“Shion.” The “Rat” gave him a gaze full of disapprobation. “Sit down and eat some breakfast”. 

The scientific sighed “You know I don’t have time”. 

The only answer was a clipping tongue.

“Shion.” Said the feminine voice of his mother. “Just take a seat, ok ?”

The teenager thought about arguing for four solid seconds, before sitting on a chair. No one could tell “no” to Karan. No even her own son. Especially not her son.   
“You too Nezumi,” the beaker continued, “go and sit at the table, I’ll finish this.”

The raven-haired boy opened his mouth but one look from the older woman made him rethink his opinion and sit next to Shion. The ecologist grinned discretely. Yup. No one was arguing with his mother. 

Soon, three mugs of tea and a pie Shion have never seen before where on the table. 

“Kaki pie,” explained Karan, cutting three slices and sitting in front of the boys. “A costumer has a huge production this year and asked me if I was interested in buying him some, so I’m trying it.” 

Shion took a bite. As usual, Karan’s food was delicious, even if it was the first time she made the recipe. But he really really didn’t have time for a long breakfast. He finished his food, and went back to gathering his stuff. He vaguely heard his mother tell something at Nezumi about a grocery run, and, as usual, the taller boy was ready and at the door waiting for him before he even had the time to put his coat on.   
He bent to receive a kiss on the forehead from his mother, wishing her a good day, and promising not to come home too late. The boy smiled of the warmness of his lone family member touch while stepping in the cold air of the early morning. 

_6:52_

New-06 was slowly awaking as Shion and Nezumi made their way through the streets, but the sun was nowhere in sight. Winter has made its way down the city a few weeks ago, covering everything with a thin film of ice. Shion sighed, his breath making a cloud in the December air. He had spent the previous winter in block-west, protected from the cold by an old heater and Nezumi’s body heat. So much had happened since. In just a year, the wall has fallen, taking No.6 with it. Almost a year ago, he had lost his best friend and had feared to lose the person he loved the most on the cold white corridors of the correctional facility. Almost a year ago he had killed a man. He was still having nightmare about every one of those things. But in the beginning of the spring, he had reunited with his mother, he had got the chance to introduce her to Nezumi. 

And then… and then everything had happened really fast. While Nezumi was still recovering from his wounds, while he was still mourning Safu, he was asked to be part of the restructuration committee. The hard work had distracted him from his nightmares, even more when the boy he shared his night with had gone away. He wasn’t angry at Nezumi for leaving him for half a year. He knew this was something the other man had to do in order to be in peace with himself. It hadn’t made those months any less difficult. Without Karan’s kind attentions, and the constant energy brought by Inukashi, Shionn and the dozens of dogs that seemed to have settled down in Lost Town, he probably wouldn’t have been able to handle his work and keep smiling through this long summer. But, as the heat decreased, his loved one had come back. That was kind of ironic that on the morning of his 17th birthday, the boy he hadn’t seen until spring had knocked out on his window, muttering something about it not being as large as the one in Chronos, and him being taller than his 11 years old self. But then again, his boyfriend being an actor, he always had a developed drama sense. 

He giggled hat the idea of a boyfriend. It was Inukashi who first used the world, and it had made him laugh at first. They were so so more than that. But the fact stayed: they did ‘boyfriend stuff’, so it that was how the dog keeper wanted to call them, it was fine by him.

“What’s so funny?” Asked Nezumi, efficiently breaking his thoughts. He took the other’s hand within his own. 

“Nothing,” he said, his smile never leaving his face, “I was just thinking about how much the city has changed since a year ago.”

His only answer was a smirk. ‘The city has changed’ was an understatement, the truth being closer to ‘destroyed and almost entirely rebuild in just a year’. But both boys let this matter go, enjoying comfortable silence again, only troubled by the distant sound of shutters opening and the birds that had flew away from the park. 

It was only when arriving in front of the restructuration committee’s working place that the white-haired boy realized the former block-west inhabitant had made all the way with him instead of just going straight to the store furnishing Karan. His smile widened at the idea. He turned his head toward the building, needing to go inside (he was already incredibly late) but unwilling to let go of Nezumi’s hand. His loved one gave their hands a small shake. 

“You want to stay here smiling like an idiot, or go to work ?”

Shion sighed. As usual, the other teenager lacked delicacy. But when he tried to untangle their hands, he was stopped. 

“Don’t I get to have a ‘have a good day’ kiss ?” 

Shion stared for a moment at the grey eyes of his lover. Yes, they were on the streets, but there was practically no one in front of the building, and if it meant pressing his lips against Nezumi’s, he didn’t care if anyone saw them. He shorted the distance between their faces, and gave the other boy a soft kiss before whispering “have a good day”.  
At the smile he saw on Nezumi’s face, he wasn’t the only one whose heart was warm despite the winter temperature. 

_8:07_

Having took all the time he needed to gather the supplies needed by Karan, the bakery was already open when Nezumi reached it. A few costumers were in the shop, buying breakfast or lunch before their day. After living in the bakery and helping Karan for four months, Nezumi knew perfectly what he had to do, so he just nodded to Karan his arrival, and went to the backroom, passing by Inukashi and Shionn’s room. 

The little kid was up and playing with what he assumed was one of grown up Shion’s childhood’s toys, trying to put the right forms in the right holes, under the watching gaze of a big dog. He assumed Inukashi was supposed to watch him too, but the dog keeper was half asleep nearby, droning on one of their enormous brother. Books where everywhere in the room. Apparently, while he was gone, Shion had gone scavenging his place from all the books, and learning Inukashi didn’t know how to read, had took it on his own to teach them. And the former hotel manager was apparently a good student, reading shorts stories and images books all night… and falling asleep while on babysitting duty. 

After stocking the groceries in the backroom, the raven-haired boy came back in the room to squeeze the younger teen’s cheeks, while yelling an overly enjoyed “Wake up, young prince !”. The dog keeper yelped, already in fighting position, yelling a few curses that Shionn could probably had gone without hearing. The young child focused his attention to the two humans, looking at them with wide eyes. 

“Mi !” babbled the child, looking at Nezumi. While he was starting to tell more and more words, some content still stayed in his young mind. Nezumi was ‘Mi’, Karan was ‘Ma’, Inukashi was ‘Mama’ and Shion ‘Dada’. 

“Yup, buddy”, the actor responded, his smile hypnotizing the big eyes of Shionn’s, “Good morning.” 

The grey-eyed teenager took a book on the floor, confirming it was an image book before asking, “Wanna read ?”

He would never know who, between Shionn and Inukashi had the most enthusiastic reactions. With a smirk, he sat on the floor, a dog almost immediately circling him, and started reading. 

Even if the story was simple and childish, the actor soon fond himself enjoying playing the characters. Usually easily distracted, Shionn was listening, interrupting only when asked to name the forms on the pictures. Inukashi opened and closed their eyes, sometimes breathing in the even so little rhythm of the story. Three dogs were sitting beside them, and Hamlet and Tsukiyo had settled beside his laps, Cravate probably still being somewhere in the bakery. The actor read, checking regularly on Karan to see if she needed his help. After a half hour of reading, he gave Inukashi the book, asking them to take one of the character. 

At first, the dog keeper had been hesitant, but the hopeful looks on Shionn’s eyes made them took the book. The reading was slow, hesitant, and full of mistakes, and the acting almost as bad.

Yet, Inukashi reading to Shionn was one of the most beautiful things Nezumi had ever seen on his entire life. 

_10:12_

Keeping a two years old kid focused on storytelling for two hours was something close to a miracle. But after all, thought Inukashi, while preparing themselves for their next line, Nezumi had always been a miracle maker. Still, Shionn’s patience was coming to an end when Karan entered the room. The older woman had taken the habit to walk with Shionn on the morning when someone could watch the shop for her. 

“We were invited in Lily and her mother’s for lunch” informed Karan, “Is that okay with you ? You can take something from the bakery”   
Inukashi didn’t know if they should laugh or be grateful. Even the old man how raised them had never shown that much affection and worry. To think that someone would worry about them having something to eat for lunch now that they weren’t a kid anymore was weird. 

They watched Karan take Shionn in her arms. The little boy could walk a few meters, but was still light enough to be carried, and liked the woman’s arms’ safety.   
“Ok” Stated Nezumi, getting up in one fluid movement, “I’m gonna go watch the store, don’t you have homework to do ?” 

Inukashi stuck out their tongue, but still put papers on the small table and got to work. They had started school around the same time Nezumi had came back, and frankly, they liked it. While there were still discriminations between former block west residents and former No.6 inhabitants, kids were usually more open minded, and Inukashi having dogs had soon made them a few friends. The classes weren’t really hard, since Shion had enrolled them in it mostly to catch up with everything they missed. Still, winter break meant homework, so the dog keeper started studying their books and papers. 

Math was easy and unchallenging. Inukashi knew how to count from their time in block west, and soon they found themselves watching the bakery. Nezumi was giving food and smile to blushing costumers. If Inukashi had a strong theory about how 70% of the bakery success was due to Karan’s cooking, and 30% to costumers just wanting to buy something from Nezumi. 

Noticing their stare, the ‘Rat’ turned and mouthed them ‘Go back to work’. Inukashi sighed and a dog came see what was wrong. Slowly, the dog keeper started smiling. There they were, surrounded by their canine family and human friends. There they were, when a year ago, they were ready to die in the correctional facility.

_13:48_

The dogs had just finished eating when Karan came back, putting a sleepy Shionn in his baby bed and kissing him in the forehead. She exited the room silently, Inukashi on her toes. 

When she asked the dog keeper if they wanted to watch the store, star shined on the young teen’s eyes. With school, Shion’s reading lessons before, and the duty to take care of Shionn, they rarely had the occasion to help costumers in the bakery, while enjoying it. Kids and adults liked the dogs that were always near their sibling, and Inukashi had taken the habit to tell costumers anecdotes about their family and to describe with enthusiasm the food. While this didn’t make the costumers buy any more, they were all smiling when exiting the shop. 

Karan had Nezumi bring the stuff brought this morning in the kitchen, and started to get everything ready. 

“Cinnamon ?” asked the actor while entering the room with supplies “what are you trying to do ?”

Karan looked at him, a smile illuminating her face, “Cinnamon Stars. I found the recipe in one of your books, it was traditional Christmas food. I wanted to give it a try. Come on, let’s do it together”

Karan liked cooking. She always did. But cooking with someone was really different. And while she knew Inukashi liked to have their time alone with the dogs, and Shion needed his space, she also knew Nezumi loved to interact with other human beings. At least while he was living with them. Speaking of which…  
“How long do you want to stay here ?” Asked the mother, not removing her gaze from her work.   
“Am I bothering?” Replied the boy, with the exact same intonation. 

“No !” Karan corrected, removing suddenly her hands from the food to look at her son’s lover. “No you’re not bothering at all, on the contrary !” Karan could never have said how happy she was that Nezumi had came back. Shion was well better since he shared his life everyday with the raven-haired boy, and Karan loved having the singer by her side to talk, cook, or more simply just being another presence in the house she never wanted to be silent again. One winter alone without Shion was more than enough.  
“You’re not bothering,” she continued, calming down and resuming working on the cinnamon stars, half knowing the teenager was just messing with her when he asked the question, but still wanting to reassure him. “Just… I’m starting to know you.” 

And she knew that Nezumi needed to move in order to be at peace. And she didn’t have the right to stop him from being happy, even for her own son. Deep down, she knew that Shion understood it too. 

“I…” Nezumi stopped his hands movement for a few seconds, before resuming, “I don’t know. I’m happy here. I want to stay with Shion. With you all to be honest.” The actor sighed. Karan knew she had this strange power to make him open in a way even Shion couldn’t. “I could stay here and work in the bakery or I could try and find a job as an actor, or maybe a librarian or even a teacher… But somehow something is missing, and I can’t quite find out what.” Karan let a comfortable silence in the room while the young man was searching his words. After a while, he started talking again. “That might be selfish, but I don’t feel like I should have a role in No.6 rebuilding. That’s just not my city…”  
“That is through,” Karan cut him suddenly. “Well, No.6 wasn’t, but New-06 is. And if you want to help with the rebuilding, you of all people have every right to give your opinion. However, if you don’t want to, that’s not selfish. You have every right to do whatever you want.” 

It suddenly hit her that maybe, Nezumi never such large possibilities of choices in his life before. He had always focused on surviving, and eventually saving Shion. Choosing what to do with his own life was new, as it was for half the population of New-06. 

“It’s okay if you want to take your time,” She said softly, putting the first set of stars into the oven, “You can stay here as long as you want. You can stay here forever if you want to. You can go if you want to. Just remember that this is home. This is home and you will always be welcome in here. Even when I’ll be an old lady, even if the city changes three, five or ten times its name, even if one day you feel unneeded, you will always, always be welcome here.” 

The former block-west resident sighed, avoiding looking at her. “You really are Shion’s mother.”

Karan let a small chuckle out at the remark. Understanding the meaning behind: both of them where saying stereotypical right out of a book speech that made Nezumi happy. Message received then. She kept her cooking work while smiling until the oven informed her that the biscuits where ready. After letting them cool for a while, she handed one to the boy. Nezumi’s eyes where shining with pleasure after he took a bite. Shion was right. Once one got to know him, the taller teenager really was an open book. Interpreting his reaction as the proof of a successful recipe, she kept cooking, wishing her household would always be full of those little things that made her live a paradise. 

_16:34_

Shionn was half eating, half playing with the cinnamon star, looking around him with big, curious eyes. It was his first try at cinnamon, and he appreciated the taste, but the star shape was also funny, reminding him of his shape game. Nezumi and Inukashi were arguing about something pointless, and the three mice where trotting on the table, eating fallen scarps. All of sudden, the little kid heard a familiar voice from the shop. 

“Hi mom ! I home early today…” 

Apparently, Nezumi too had heard it, because as the conversation kept going on how was grown up Shion’s day, his smile widened. Inukashi looked at him, amused.

“You go meet him, you heartbreaker, I’ll watch the lil’ brat.” And while the older teenager walked out, they added, clowning the actor “Bouhou, I haven’t seen him for a day, I miss Shion soooo much ! Seriously, how did you handle a Shionless summer ?” 

That would have probably get the dog keeper a standing finger if Shionn wasn’t in the same room. Rolling their eyes, Inukashi turned toward the child.

“You don’t become like them, okay ? No soppy love stories, you understand ?”

Shionn just kept smiling and babbling happily. 

_21:38_

Shion was reading for the hundredth time the same line, lying in his bed when Nezumi entered the room, efficiently distracting him. The taller boy removed his shirt, revealing his multiple scars. The burn mark on his back, one gunshot wound on his side, two on his shoulder, and multiple others, Nezumi claiming not even knowing their origin sometimes.   
“What?” asked the actor, a smirk on his face, “I’m so beautiful you can’t keep your eyes of me?”   
Shion huffed, putting the papers on the bedside table. “I can’t read that.” 

In one fluid movement, the ‘Rat’ was near him. “You want me to read it for you ?” 

The white-haired boy let out a small chuckle. “You want to read me the economic plan on a new building ? Nah, I just want to sleep.”

Nezumi let himself fell on the bed with a low “as you wish…” and stayed there, his face three centimeters from Shion’s. Karan had suggested buying a king size bed, since they were slipping in the same anyway, but somehow, sleeping on Shion’s one-person bed seemed to be the most natural option for the two boys.

The restructuration committee member lost himself in Nezumi’s moon colored eyes. He smiled with contentment when he felt his lover’s hand smoothing the red snake shaped scar on his face, stopping sometimes to play with his hairs. His surviving trophies. The proof of his victory on the fight between his willpower and a deadly virus.   
Nezumi started humming a familiar song and Shion closed his eyes.

Everything would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the story and it wasn’t too much cliché !


End file.
